Lunch in Vail then ride back. Yeah.
It was only about 1/2 hour from my car at Copper to the rest stop near Vail Pass, where I made a stop and then proceeded left up Shrine Pass Road.
My intent was to ride over to, and through, the Vail ski area via backcountry trails rather than bike paths along the highway.
I quickly realized that Bowman's Shortcut lived up to the "D" for difficult rating, and I hiked maybe a quarter of it over to Vail property. There's a significant climb from the Shrine Pass side, then it rolls up and down on top of rocky, rooty ridges. I'm sure it's fine if you're a really good rider, but it was tough for me, and I was straining to push my bike up parts of it. I rode down the middle-grade sections, which still had me behind the saddle on the downs.
However, some parts were easy, and the views of the Gore Range were great:
The view back down to Lime Creek Road, the slice of light orange:
Somewhere midway through Bowman's:
At the Two Elk trail turnoff right near the Vail property line, Bowman's ends and Commando Run continues into the ski area, zig-zagging up the back of the hill that I sometimes see referred to as Siberia Peak, which is the high point above Outer Mongolia Bowl and has the backcountry gate at the top. I hike from the pommel lift up to the top of that hill in the winter to get a bit of extra untracked.
This is looking back east at the ridge I traversed (green ridge on the right):
Then, I rode down under the pommel lift and back up to the ridge above China Bowl, past the top of Orient Express, past Two Elk lodge, and basically rode all the way across the the top of the resort on dirt roads. The Vail summer map refers to this as the Grand Traverse.
I dropped down into town on Gitalong Road, since I was looking for the fastest, easiest route at this point.
"Lunch" took place at 5 PM at Joe's Famous Deli in Vail Village, and was a great Hot Italian sandwich. I confirmed the route to the pass trail with an employee (just follow the service road east all the way, or follow the path to the service road).
Riding back east out of town, with the pass area looming ahead, and 12 miles and 2,400 feet of climbing:
The path follows the same route as the Vail time trial from the Pro Cycling Challenge last year, and written cheers to famous cyclists were still left painted on the pavement. The first part was isolated and pretty mellow:
The main downside to the path was its occasional proximity to the highway, with noise and exhaust. Better to speed down the west side quickly than to ride up it, I think. The east side is more isolated and is better suited to a long slow climb.
It was also getting cool as I passed by the lakes near the pass. I thought maybe my light shell would come in handy somehow, and I was glad I brought it. It probably prevented mild hypothermia on the chilly downhill at 10,000 feet after sunset.
Distance was 48.39 miles, time 8:47 (moving 6:33), elevation gain/loss 6,558 feet, avg. speed 5.5 mph, avg. moving speed 7.4 mph, max 23.6 mph.
OK, glad I got that out of my system.
